Virus cases rise by 787 in Arkansas, governor warns no area of state should be ‘relaxed’

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks to reporters at the state Capitol in Little Rock on Monday in this still of video provided by the governor's office.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks to reporters at the state Capitol in Little Rock on Monday in this still of video provided by the governor's office.

Arkansas health officials reported 787 new cases of covid-19 on Monday, an increase that brought the total number of identified cases to 44,597.

Announcing those numbers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that some areas in the state, such as Northeast Arkansas, were seeing a troubling rise in cases even as numbers were falling elsewhere.

The number of active cases in the state, 6,882, remained close to the high-water mark reached in mid-July, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Health.

“We have had a sense in Arkansas and some of the rural states that this is an urban problem,” Hutchinson said, adding the admonition that “there’s not any area of Arkansas that someone should be relaxed and say ‘this is a covid-free area’ or ‘it’s not going to touch us here.’”

Hutchinson previously ordered a statewide mask mandate that went into effect two weeks ago. While he said compliance was not 100 percent, Hutchinson expressed hope that greater mask usage would soon lead to a decrease in cases.

In addition to the increase in cases reported Monday, the Health Department reported 11 new deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 475. There were 513 people hospitalized with the virus Monday, a decrease of two from the previous day.

The governor set a goal of conducting 190,000 covid-19 tests in August, in addition to 10,000 antigen tests for the virus.

In July, Arkansas recorded 194,836 tests, short of the governor’s goal of 200,000.

EARLIER:

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and state health officials will provide an update on Arkansas' covid-19 response at 1:30 p.m.

The total number of coronavirus cases reported in Arkansas remained at 43,810 Monday morning, according to a state website. The death toll remained at 464.

Check back to watch the live video.

[Video not showing up above? Click here to view » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XfZzJ6mfvI]